'Wreck-It Ralph'

'Wreck-It Ralph'

Movies and video games have a weird, inscestuous, and often unfortunate relationship. Dozens of movies take their plots of existing video games. "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" is just latest example. There's also "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," multiple "Resident Evil" flicks, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" the list goes on. Unfortunately, most of these movies are dreadful, directed by Uwe Boll, or both. And just about every movie that has elements of action, adventure, superheroes, fantasy, sci fi or a young audience gets repurposed as a video game. Some of these games are fun. Some are slapped-together attempts to make a few more bucks off a hit movie. Are any of them advancing the cause of video games as art? We'll let the gamer geeks fight over that question. Then there are those movies based on a video game that doesn't actually exist. "Wreck-It Ralph" is the latest entry into this canon. The hulking 8-bit bad guy decides he wants to be a hero, so he takes off into a world of first-person shooters, sugar-coated kids games, and more to find his purpose. It's getting great reviews -- and yes, it has already inspired a real video game. It's the circle of entertainment life.

Movies and video games have a weird, inscestuous, and often unfortunate relationship. Dozens of movies take their plots of existing video games. "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" is just latest example. There's also "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," multiple "Resident Evil" flicks, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" the list goes on. Unfortunately, most of these movies are dreadful, directed by Uwe Boll, or both. And just about every movie that has elements of action, adventure, superheroes, fantasy, sci fi or a young audience gets repurposed as a video game. Some of these games are fun. Some are slapped-together attempts to make a few more bucks off a hit movie. Are any of them advancing the cause of video games as art? We'll let the gamer geeks fight over that question. Then there are those movies based on a video game that doesn't actually exist. "Wreck-It Ralph" is the latest entry into this canon. The hulking 8-bit bad guy decides he wants to be a hero, so he takes off into a world of first-person shooters, sugar-coated kids games, and more to find his purpose. It's getting great reviews -- and yes, it has already inspired a real video game. It's the circle of entertainment life.

Movies and video games have a weird, inscestuous, and often unfortunate relationship. Dozens of movies take their plots of existing video games. "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" is just latest example. There's also "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," multiple "Resident Evil" flicks, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" the list goes on. Unfortunately, most of these movies are dreadful, directed by Uwe Boll, or both. And just about every movie that has elements of action, adventure, superheroes, fantasy, sci fi or a young audience gets repurposed as a video game. Some of these games are fun. Some are slapped-together attempts to make a few more bucks off a hit movie. Are any of them advancing the cause of video games as art? We'll let the gamer geeks fight over that question. Then there are those movies based on a video game that doesn't actually exist. "Wreck-It Ralph" is the latest entry into this canon. The hulking 8-bit bad guy decides he wants to be a hero, so he takes off into a world of first-person shooters, sugar-coated kids games, and more to find his purpose. It's getting great reviews -- and yes, it has already inspired a real video game. It's the circle of entertainment life.